It’s been nearly 40 years since the first relational database was introduced to the world. Recently, Insoft Infotel released a blog about the current shortage of skilled mainframe professionals as a generation on the tail end of their careers prepares to retire. Database professionals are also facing this reality, as the majority of the workforce grays. However, much like Big Iron, database technology is only increasing in importance to the enterprise as Big Data continues to drive business decisions in banking, finance, healthcare, insurance, government, and other mainframe industries.
According to a Unisphere Research report titled, “The Vanishing Database Administrator: Survey of Data Professionals’ Career Aspiration,” nearly 40 percent of data professionals say they will be leaving the field in the next decade. Of the 281 data professionals surveyed, the majority were middle-aged men, with 70 percent of respondents older than 45 years of age. This survey was conducted five years ago, and we can only assume that many of these people have already retired or are moving closer to their retirement each year. With such a small percentage of respondents under the age of 35 (only 6 percent!) when this survey was conducted, we are standing on the precipice of a huge gap to fill for data professionals leaving the workplace. How will the market cope with these frightening numbers? And what will the impact be to these businesses and governments that rely so heavily on the mainframe?
In the five years since this survey was conducted, and after extensive research, no one seems to be panicking at this prospect. We even reached out to a DBA educator at one North Carolina University, and when asked if she would be able to comment on the current shortage of DBAs in the job market she responded, “I didn’t even know there was one!”
The fact is, the role of the DBA has changed considerably over the years, and many predicted that technology would replace the role of the DBA entirely. In a Fall 2017 issue of Big Data Quarterly, editor and chief Joyce Wells writes, “DBAs have the opportunity to move from being data custodians and keepers to taking on a more strategic role in their organizations.” Further in the article, Penny Avril VP of Product Management at Oracle Database says,
“DBAs are being asked to understand what businesses do with data rather than just the mechanics of keeping the database healthy and running. This is where the opportunity lies. Their job is no longer in the background simply keeping databases alive and running. They are now responsible for data modeling, data security, and performance monitoring in a hybrid system—all elements of the job that are more visible to the business and will continue to grow in importance.”
This trend of technical employees moving into more strategic roles is so prevalent as technological capabilities continue to advance. The most mundane and repetitive tasks of a DBA are being replaced with software automation products but that’s not to say the DBA role is less important. In fact, the amount of data a DBA is asked to manage grows every day. Data sharing services, digital marketing, social media, and IoT applications are adding to the massive amounts of data an enterprise collects, stores, and leverages for decision support. Not only does this increase the workload for data professionals, but it also increases the security responsibility of these departments. Technology is necessary to manage these increasing workloads, decreasing talent pools, and software vendors are stepping in and assisting as much as possible.
One vendor that works to help manage the workload of data professionals is Insoft Infotel. We are an international software vendor and consulting firm specializing in data performance and optimization solutions for the mainframe. After many years of helping data professionals in the European market, Insoft Infotel is working on introducing several of its most successful data optimization products – DB/IQ and iDBA-Online – to the North American Marketplace. DB/IQ is an automated SQL code quality assurance software, that will automatically run and fix SQL code, regardless of source, to be compliant with previously set code quality standards.
Insoft Infotel’s iDBA-Online is a product that leverages Artificial Intelligence to automate Db2 maintenance tasks. Both products are aimed at the busy IT department looking to automate menial tasks with the latest technology and both assist with bringing mainframe costs under control by decreasing CPU consumption.
IBM is working to address these skills gaps with IBM Z Academic Initiative to help introduce the next generation of tech leaders to mainframe and database curriculum. Education alongside automated software to lighten the load for busy data professionals is a critical combination towards being able to support the data management needs of the future.
Are you a DBA or data services professional new to the industry or seasoned veteran? We’d love to hear your thoughts on automation for data management. We welcome your comments.
To learn more about Insoft Infotel please visit insoft-infotel.com or contact us directly at software@insoft-infotel.com.
